6/9/08

The BOBA Digest, Part 1: Schadenfreude

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Posted by Ken
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7 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 9, 2008 at 5:17 PM

    I had never heard that argument from atheists. How idiotic. Just because someone weeps doesn't mean they don't trust God. Ever heard of being sad because you miss someone? Sheesh.

    In contrast, I know an atheist/agnostic who boo-hoo'd when his pet bird died but is extremely proud of being a Planned Parenthood escort ("deathscort"). If I want to see incongruous behavior I can just look to atheists anytime.

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  2. michael behe's hatJune 9, 2008 at 5:42 PM

    Yeah that's a bit cold. Hey I'm an atheist and I hate all Christians;) here's a suggestion, cause this ain't a bad idea, this BOBA thing, do a silly Christian one along with an atheism one. Quest for Right instantly comes to mind.

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  3. M. AtheosJune 9, 2008 at 9:07 PM

    Agreed.

    Just because, according to what someone believes, they [i]ought[/i] to be happy about something, doesn't mystically transform them into someone who does everything they should! Generally speaking, funerals and mourning and all that have very, very little to do with (or for) the corpse central to the events. It's about the people attending, and about how they've been impacted.

    Your example of someone moving overseas is great. A more realistic example (which I hope as many people as possible experience) is having a really great boss or employee who, thanks to being really great, gets a well-deserved promotion... which means they're no longer your great boss/employee. You ought to be happy for them! You probably are happy for them! But, arrrrgh now you're down a great boss/employee, and the next one is statistically likely to be worse, and if there isn't a next one then you're going to have a bigger workload, and while you may be able to express your happiness for them, you've still got sadness for yourself to deal with.

    Also, I'll bookmark this post to send to the theists I see who keep posting drivel about how "Well atheists don't think anything matters and it's not like you can think they went to Hell, so you're a hypocrite for crying."

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  4. M. AtheosJune 9, 2008 at 9:07 PM

    Oh, and how is it that Schadenfreude has recently become such a popular word? I feel like I'm seeing it all over the place these last couple years...

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  5. AnonymousJune 9, 2008 at 11:57 PM

    I think you need to provide a few links or otherwise references to these BOBAs who engage in this line of argumentation, because I'm having a hard time imagining how anyone could be so abysmally stupid. If someone really does this, they obviously have a mental problem.

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  6. KenJune 17, 2008 at 11:00 PM

    Thank you all for your thoughts and recommendations.

    michael behe's hat (If that is your real name – actually the name is very funny!!!),
    In the comment section to the post that elucidates the BOBA concept I was asked about doing a “silly Christian one along with an atheism one.” We concluded that since this blog is about atheism, we would stick to one side. However, I did take a shot at someone who is a “Christian” “Pastor” (may God forbid 1,000 times) in the original post.

    M. Atheos,
    FYI, for the sake of next time, double check the code that you can use in the comments section ([i] [/i] was a no go).
    “Schadenfreude” huh? Wait until I bust out with “Floccinaucinihilipilificatious”!!!
    And hey, I recently got promoted at work so your metaphor is……better not say any more :o)

    adonais,
    I had run across the argument and before posting I found quite a bit of it online. I suppose that I was so embarrassed for joe-blogers making this argument that I could not bring myself to name names. I will try to dig some up when I get some time. If I forget please do prod me.

    Lastly, someone out there in cyber space gave this answer as to why Christians cry at funerals: “Perhaps they're crying over the COST of the funeral…” :o)

    aDios,
    Mariano

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  7. M. AtheosJune 20, 2008 at 7:36 PM

    Cost of funerals...

    Oy. That gets me thinking about how much money people are expected (and, to a certain degree in many places, legally required) to shell out for the express purpose of preventing the body from being properly recycled. "No, you cannot just dig a hole, you must make sure the body is encased in a box which has been properly certified to delay natural processes for at least fifty years".

    Rrrrrrgh. Expensive things which are worthwhile are one thing, but being required to pay a bunch of money for a bad idea is galling.

    ----
    Markup tags: Check. Force of forum habit.
    ----
    Floccinaucinihilipilificatious: But I don't hear that one all over the place of a sudden. At least, not till we get this meme rolling... ;)

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